FC Pune City on Monday announced Ranko Popovic as its new head coach for the 2017-18 season, with the Serbian make his Indian Super League managerial debut.

FC Pune City on Monday announced Ranko Popovic as its new head coach for the 2017-18 season, with the Serbian make his managerial debut in the Indian Super League.

Popovic began his managerial career in 2001 with Austrian club TuS FC Arnfels followed by a stint with another Austrian club FC Pachern from 2004-2006. In 2006, he took the reins of Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J1 league for a year before going back to his homeland coaching FC Spartak Subotica in the Serbian SuperLiga until 2009.

Popovic returned to Japan managing Oita Trinita, FC Machida Zelvia and FC Tokyo before eventually getting the high profile job of manager of Cerezo Osaka, one of the Japan's iconic teams. It was during his managerial stint when the club signed Uruguayan star Diego Forlan. During his time in Japan, he promoted several young players who went on to receive debut call-ups for their national team. Under his tutelage, his teams created a record, twice, for scoring maximum number of goals scored in the League.

In 2014-15, he went to Spain to coach Segunda Division club Real Zaragoza where he led the team to finals of the La Liga play-offs. A season later, he joined Thai Premier League Champions Buriram United FC where he won the Thai League Cup and Mekong Club Championship.

“I am delighted to be joining FC Pune City. The people at the club, their vision and their values together with the opportunity to develop and build this team to its full potential made this an offer that was difficult to turn down. I can’t wait to get started,” said Ranko Popovic.

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